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“Strange bedfellows” is a phrase coined by Shakespeare. Its full context is “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” It has come to mean finding oneself in a difficult situation forces one to associate with a condition or person (or persons) that they would not normally have anything to do with. Origin of “strange bedfellows”
Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s. This particular idiom may have been invented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (2:2), “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”
1. : one who shares a bed with another. 2. : a person or thing closely associated with another : ally. political bedfellows. often used in the phrase strange bedfellows to describe an unlikely alliance of people or things.
Strange Bedfellows is a 2004 Australian film directed by Dean Murphy and starring Paul Hogan and Michael Caton as heterosexual men who pass themselves off as a gay couple in order to get financial benefits from the government.
When Trinculo seeks shelter from a storm under the cloak of a creature he's very unsure about - he wonders if it's a man or a fish - he comments "misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows." ( The Tempest , Act 2, Scene 2)
strange bedfellows. A pair of people, things, or groups connected in a certain situation or activity but extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc.
Jun 2, 2024 · strange bedfellows pl (normally plural, singular strange bedfellow) An unusual combination or political alliance.
When we talk about “strange bedfellows,” we refer to an unlikely or unexpected alliance between two people or groups. This idiom is often used to describe a situation where two parties who would not normally work together find themselves collaborating towards a common goal.
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Adversity makes strange bedfellows'? The proverbial saying ‘adversity makes strange bedfellows’ suggests that, in times of trouble, people who wouldn’t normally associate with each other may form an alliance.
You refer to two things or people as bedfellows when they have become associated or related in some way. See full entry for 'bedfellow' Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary .